Jonathan Bellamy spoke with Arnold Yousaf and Hui Tang from the Jubilee Training Centre.

Hui: No, I'm not. I'm originally from Sydney, Australia, but my name, Hui, is actually Chinese because I am Chinese.

Hui Tang

Jon: Tell us how you've ended up here in the UK at the Jubilee Training Centre and a little bit of your journey in terms of the value of it for you.

Hui: About three years ago, Jubilee Training Centre sent out a few people to come to Sydney, along with Michael Puffett who is one of our church elders. He was speaking at a conference and it was a joint conference, so I went along to that not knowing who Jubilee was, but I knew the other ministry that they were co-doing that with. When I got there, I met the people that came along and I was so blown away by their character and just the way that they were. They were so easy to talk to, so approachable and I could tell that they didn't just speak about living a life that was Christian, they actually lived it and they were happy. I really wanted that for myself.

A year later and I was working in retail, by then I'd finished my degree in graphic design and I was pushing doors and nothing was opening. I was asking God, "Why, why?" Because I was in retail for such a long time, for about four years by then. I'd got really accustomed to focusing on the outside appearance and not on the inside. I had a really good look at my life and thought, God I wanna be a woman of substance; all I do is dress great. I look great, but on the inside do I have anything to give at all? And that's when my Mum said, "Hey, do you remember Jubilee Training Centre, why don't you go do Year of Training?" I prayed about it and for the first time in a long time I felt like this is something that I have to do; this is something that I can actually work towards.

So I packed my bags, left my family and came over for what I planned to be a year. On my arrival I found out that it wasn't just a character building discipleship course, it was also a leadership course and I was like, "What, a leadership course, me?" God really used it to take me on a process of realising the things that he's put in me.

They gave you real practical skills on how to lead, from your own personal life, like how to get order into your life, how to make a bed, how to cook, how to clean, but also how to serve as well. Then also from there, learning how to lead a small group, so for example, if I were to go back into retail, I could go back there and confidently know how to work better as a team, how to delegate tasks and how to get things done in a godly way without getting angry or anything like that; how to control myself.

After walking through a process that year, I came into Creative Arts Academy this year and I think this year, God has been showing me more things that he's placed in me that he wants to use for his glory. So for example, when I was 15/16, I absolutely loved music. I played the piano and I loved to sing. I thought you know what, I wanna learn how to teach, that would be really cool. So I had this one student and I had a really bad experience, so I said, "You know what, I'm just not cut out for it", and I pushed it aside and said, "Nah, I'm not gonna do it". Then because of my low self-esteem and my performance mentality where I thought that what I did reflected who I was as a person and what I was worth, I pushed it completely aside and said, "You know what, I'm just not cut out for music at all". That's when I pursued Graphic Design. But this year, God has been helping me re-realise the dreams that he put in my heart to teach other people. So we've had the opportunity to teach Arnold and a couple of my fellow students little vocal techniques and things like that, that I've learnt in my past and then we've even gone to places like the Ukraine and I've been able to teach them and equip them on how to sing. God was so faithful in bringing those things back to me because if I go right back to before the Year of Training my question was, "What do I have to give?" And actually he's given me those gifts and those passions not just for me, not so I feel like I have something to give, but it's for other people.

We have a saying in Jubilee that, 'When he saved me, he had more than me on his mind'. I think God is having me realise that more and more as I go along on this journey. You know what, it's not even just about the training centre, it's wherever you are in life, God will be bringing you on a process so it will bring him more glory and it's not the course that saves you, it's not the course that makes you a better Christian, it's the choices you make along the way.

Jon: Great story, Hui and Arnold, thank you very much for sharing.